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The Maxwell Thing
The Maxwell Thing is the 119th arc in Housepets!. Characters *Max *Grape *Peanut *Sabrina *Fido *Coyote *Crow *Rufus *Barnyard cats *Uncle Reuben *Sabercat *Mr. Bigglesworth *Dallas *Rex Plot Still trapped in the spa, Max begins to get bored. Grape suggests he tell the story of how he and Rufus met, which Max initially refuses before being goaded into it by Sabrina. As a kitten Max was orphaned and found himself wandering the streets looking for a new home. One day after hitting a dry spell and "grifting" in the middle of the road, he is attacked by a coyote and crow who are looking to make him their lunch. After a day of being chased down Max ends up in a field, where he is saved by Rufus, who smashes the coyote in the face. Rufus introduces him the barn cats and has him stay in the barn to hunt mice. However, Max isn't good at mice catching and after three weeks he decides to leave; only to be chased down by the coyote and crow again. Max manages to escape by accidentally tumbling into a ditch, breaking his ankle in the process. That night, Max resigns himself to fate before he is found by Rufus. Max begs him to stay with him and Rufus spends the night comforting the scared kitten. Max promises Rufus that he will stay in the barn forever, but Rufus tells him that if he isn't happy in the barn then he will have to find him a home where he would be. The next morning Rufus fixes Max's ankle, makes a call and has Uncle Reuben drive him and Max to Babylon Gardens (where he is presumably adopted by Jeff.) Max tries to wrap up the story but Peanut complains about the ending, even though the coyote and crow never came back, so Peanut draws his own ending up. After Grape and Sabrina tease him, Max angrily leaves the spa. Grape follows to apologize and finds Max at home reading a letter he'd gotten from Rufus. Max explains that Rufus had sent him a letter once a year, and he had never responded due to nothing he'd written feeling adequate. Max guilty expresses that it's too late before Rufus suddenly reappears as an angel, startling him. Max apologizes for not thanking Rufus for saving him (or even recognizing him for that matter) but Rufus tells him that he didn't save him so he would live his life under obligation: he saved him to set him free (though he tells him to lay off the catnip.) Before returning to Heaven, Rufus wishes Grape and Max the best before revealing he is dating the sabercat from 5000 BC. Max and Grape return to the spa, though Max is a little upset that nobody took his deeply personal story seriously. They return to find Peanut retelling the story in an epic fashion, and Grape suggests adapting it into a nine-part miniseries, which Max is okay with. Events *Max explains the events that lead to Rufus kissing him in Temple Crashers 2: Epilogue Crashers. *Max is revealed to have been orphaned as a kitten, and was saved by Rufus when he was young. Trivia *This arc is part of the "Hot Springs" anthology; preceded by The Hot Springs Episode, Hot Springs Encore and followed by Hearts and Minds and No Time For Hot Springs!. *This is the Barnyard Cats' first appearances since Down At The Farm. *In Ghosts Of The Past Grape offhandedly references saving Max's life in Housepets Babies!. *The alt-text in Puppies From Heaven references the movie Ghost Dad. Category:Story Arcs Category:Comics Category:2019 Category:Hot Springs